U.S. freezes assets of Mexican drug lord's family

June 07, 2012|Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday said it is taking steps to freeze the assets of the wife and son of Mexico's most wanted man, drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, as U.S. and Mexican authorities try to close in on his cartel's massive trafficking operations.

The U.S. Treasury said U.S. citizens are now banned from doing any business with Alfredo Guzman and Maria Alejandrina Salazar, who are identified as operatives of the Sinaloa cartel.

Guzman escaped a Mexican jail in a laundry cart in 2001 and rose to become Mexico's highest profile trafficker as President Felipe Calderon sent the army out to battle drug gangs.

Salazar, 53, was identified as Guzman's wife. Guzman is known to have fathered children with at least three women.

Guzman's son was indicted by a U.S. District Court in Illinois in 2009, the Treasury said in a statement. The woman identified by the U.S. government as Guzman's wife was accused or providing "material support" to the Sinaloa gang.

The United States imposed sanctions on other sons of Guzman in May.

The Sinaloa cartel is battling the brutal Zetas gang for control of trafficking routes into the United States.

Mexico's drug war has claimed more than 55,000 lives in less than six years, and growing frustration with the violence has boosted support for opposition front runner Enrique Pena Nieto ahead of the July 1 presidential vote.

Calderon is barred by law from running for another term, and his conservative party's candidate, Josefina Vazquez Mota, is lagging in third place in the polls.